Robert Lowes December 12, 2013 The actions of a rogue orthopedic surgeon in Hopewell Junction, New York, is embroiling 2 hospitals and a large multispecialty medical group in a legal mess that raises the question of who knew what. Spyros Panos, MD, pleaded guilty last month in federal court to a healthcare fraud scheme in […]
12.11.2013 ORLANDO — Diabetic patients who were counseled by pharmacists did better at managing their blood sugar over a 2-year period than patients in standard treatment, researchers reported here. Diabetic patients who worked with pharmacists experienced mean reductions in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of -1.24, which were sustained for 2 years, compared with smaller average reductions […]
Deborah Brauser December 11, 2013 Substance use disorders (SUDs) are increasing among medical residents, with the risk for relapse “very high,” new research suggests. A retrospective cohort study of more than 44,000 anesthesiology residents who began training programs between 1975 and 2009 showed that 384 (0.86%) had a confirmed SUD during their training. Of these, […]
Deborah Brauser December 09, 2013 Doctors who report they abuse prescription drugs cite self-medication to help manage physical pain and emotional problems as the number 1 reason for this habit, new research shows. In the study, substance-impaired doctors participated anonymously in guided group discussions as part of a monitored state physician health program (PHP). In […]
Tuesday, 26 November 2013 23:53 By August West, Contributing Writer Earlier this month, in a move that rattled the cardiology world, the same organizations published new guidelinesinsisting that doctors no longer need to measure LDL or other lipids, and that pretty much anybody who looks like they’re at risk for CVD should automatically get a statin […]
que Wilson, CNN Updated 7:14 AM ET, Thu December 19, 2013 When Nailah Winkfield took her daughter to Children’s Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, California, for a tonsillectomy, she thought it would be a short stay. “When I walked her into that hospital, she was perfectly fine,” Winkfield told CNN’s Piers Morgan. “There was […]
Orthopedics Today, November 2013 Javad Parvizi, MD FRCS; Fatih Küçükdurmaz, MD As if the numerous adverse effects of opiates on the human body were not enough, emerging evidence unravels a link between opioids and infection. The link between opioids and infection was noted in the late 1980s during HIV research. Epidemiological studies demonstrated that the […]
Robert Lowes November 11, 2013 an Edward Scott, MD, a physician in New Castle, Pennsylvania, once prescribed more pain medication than anyone else in his state. It turned out to be a dubious honor. On October 29, a state judge sentenced the 62-year-old Dr. Scott to at least 9.5 years in prison for illegally prescribing […]
12.10.2013 by David Pittman Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today Drug sales reps should be banned from academic medical centers, but mingling between faculty and pharma researchers is not a problem, according to a conflict-of-interest task force. “Pharmaceutical sales representatives should not be allowed access to any faculty, students, or trainees in academic medical centers or affiliated […]
12.09.2013 About 18% of lung cancers caught by low-dose CT screening were slow-growing tumors that wouldn’t have affected patients during their lifetime, an analysis of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showed. That trial showed a mortality advantage to screening, but for every one lung cancer death prevented per 320 patients with screening in the trial, […]
DISSECTING THE EVIDENCE David A. Johnson, Edward C. Oldfield IVDisclosures Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013;11(5):458-464. INTRODUCTION Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are medications that are ubiquitous in a gastroenterologist’s practice. This class of medication has been available for commercial use for nearly 25 years and this class of acid-reduction agents has supplanted the use of histamine-2–receptor antagonists […]
Larry Hand November 06, 2013 Full Story: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/813930 Infants younger than 2 months who are hospitalized more than once with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are significantly more likely to undergo antireflux procedures (ARPs) than children aged 7 months or older, according to an article published online November 6 in JAMA Surgery. Children with multiple disorders, regardless […]
By Gregory Wallace @gregorywallace November 4, 2013: 6:33 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Johnson & Johnson will pay $2.2 billion to settle charges that the company marketed drugs for unapproved uses and paid “kickbacks” to doctors and nursing homes. The penalties announced Monday involve fines and forfeiture to the federal government and several states. The […]
12.03.2013 Rates of apparent substance use disorders among anesthesiology residents have recently been at their highest level since 1975, researchers said. Disciplinary records and other data sources on more than 44,000 individuals starting anesthesiology residencies from 1975 to 2009 identified 384 with evidence of substance use disorders during training, for an overall rate of 2.16 […]
By Anthony Rosner, PhD, LLD [Hon.], LLC Dynamic Chiropractic – November 1, 2013, Vol. 31, Issue 21 Full Story: http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=56729 A dramatic and sobering study on the incidence and types of adverse medical events worldwide has just been published in the journal BMC Quality and Safety.1 The study’s long list of credentials is indeed compelling, […]
IMNG Medical Media, 2013 Oct 31, SY Tan Question: A psychiatrist refers a young woman for possible pneumonia. Her symptoms include episodic dyspnea and hyperventilation. The resident obtained a history of chronic anxiety and depression, for which the patient takes diazepam. There was a history of cigarette smoking and use of oral contraceptives. Physical examination […]
George D. Lundberg, MD November 26, 2013 Hello and welcome. I am Dr. George Lundberg and this is At Large at Medscape. Hospitals are dangerous places. I no longer work in a hospital, and I try never to go to hospitals even to visit, unless, of course, I or my family were to become really […]
Laurie Barclay, MD October 23, 2013 Full Story: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/813034 Clinicians may not tell most patients about the possibility of overdiagnosis and overtreatment as a result of cancer screenings, according to survey results published online October 21 in JAMA Internal Medicine. “Cancer screening can produce benefits: finding true and treatable cancer at an early stage. However, it also can […]
IMNG Medical Media, 2013 Oct 23, MA Moon Full Story: http://www.practiceupdate.com/news/3504 Urologists who incorporate intensity-modulated radiation therapy services into their own practices are much more likely to refer men with newly diagnosed nonmetastatic prostate cancer for IMRT than are other urologists, according to a report. The study was published online Oct. 23 in the New […]
Nancy A. Melville August 21, 2013 Full Story: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/809720 The US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) has launched a probe into the prescribing of atypical antipsychotic medications to children under Medicaid. “We will determine the extent to which children ages 18 and younger had Medicaid claims for atypical antipsychotic […]